Tributes have been flooding in for Aston “Family Man” Barrett, who died at a Florida hospital on February 3rd, aged 77. Sharing the news on Instagram, his son Aston Barrett Jr. wrote that the world had “lost not just an iconic musician and the backbone of The Wailers, but a remarkable human being whose legacy is as immense as his talent.”
Known as “Family Man”, due to his voluminous offspring count, Barrett was Jamaica’s leading exponent of bass guitar, and a true master of his instrument in the reggae genre. After joining Bob Marley and The Wailers in 1970, he undoubtedly became the most famous reggae bassist in the world, thanks to his heavy, loping basslines beneath all of Marley’s biggest hits.
